FG To Rebuild UN’s Abuja Office On Time

Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma told a delegation of the United Nations that rebuilding of the organisation’s Abuja office would be completed as scheduled. BizWatchNigeria recalled that the building was destroyed in a 2013 suicide bomb attack traced to the Boko Haram group.

The minister told a delegation of the UN Resident Coordinator and the Resident Representative of UNDP,  Ms. Fatma Samora, that visited him that the building would be completed before the October 2016 deadline.

Udoma, in response to earlier comments made by the visitor said, “our government is sorry about the present UN office accommodation inconveniences,  I shall effectively liaise with the Federal Capital Territory administration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that the October 2016 rebuilding deadline of the Nigeria’s UN building is met.”

He assured the visitors that, “all that is required for the staff to move into the building will be addressed.”

He said, “we note with satisfaction, your efforts to help Nigeria rebuild the northeastern states, it is our biggest challenge today, we want to restore normalcy in that region, fix all the inhuman destruction done by Boko Haram and get the affected population back to their vital agrarian livelihood.”

A statement issued by the Director (Information) in the Budget and National Planning Ministry said, Samora, had revealed that the UN system immensely supported Nigeria over the years, and also gave an assurance that it would not relent in doing so.

Samora listed some of the areas of support to include: technical assistance on zero-based budgeting preparation; development and installation of the Development Assistance Data Base (DAD); Phase one tracking and management of aid inflow from development partners in the country and it also supported the coordination of development partners in the country through the National Donors’ Consultative Forum.